Thomas (Special correspondent)
Unable to take care of his physically challenged child,a 40 year old autorickshaw driver killed his ten year old differently abled son by drowning him in a water sump inside their residence in Sampangirama Nagar and later ended his life by hanging himself from the celing of an abandoned shed in Sheshadripuram on Monday.
The deceased child has been identified as Uday Sai who was mute and visually challenged.Sai was the only son of the couple,Suresh,40,and Lakshmi,35 and were residing in a rented house in Sampangiram Nagar.
Senior officer told media persons,that Lakshmi was working as a teacher before but had to quit her job to take care of her son while Suresh was an autorickshaw driver.
The incident took place on Monday morning between 6:30 am to 7 am when Suresh woke up and removed the water sump lid.
He took his son who was asleep and dropped him into the sump before closing the lid and ran away.
He went to an empty plot on platform road in Seshadripuram area next to the underpass towards Majestic where he found an abandoned shed and hung himself inside.
Suresh had a spinal cord injury and was advised to undergo an operation immediately.Due to the pandemic,his work had taken a hit and had financial crisis.
Lakshmi told the police that he was very depressed after hearing about the operation and told her a couple of times that he and his son would end their lives so that she could live on without them becoming a burden to her.
However, she had not taken it seriously and on Monday morning when she could not find father and son,she started to suspect Suresh.
She searched everywhere in the house and opened the sump lid when she found her son’s body.As the boy was mute,no one in the building heard anything or could save him,said an officer.
Seshadripuram police said that later in the evening,the public who noticed Suresh’s body, informed the jurisdictional police who rushed to the place and shifted his body for post mortem.
The Sampangiramanagar police have taken up a case of murder against Suresh while Seshadripuram police have registered a case of abetment of suicide and further investigation is on.
Those in distress or those having suicidal tendencies can call Arogya Sahayavani Ph.: 104 for help.
